ON THE ROCKS
Wright’s K-W Granite rink rocks
by Bruce Rogers/Special to The Scugog Standard

Rob Wright’s K-W Granite survived a huge field of powerful curlers in an exhausting provincial competition at Brighton and Trenton. Wright’s Kitchener-Waterloo rink beat London’s Dave Mann, 4-3. In the ‘B’-final, Jeff Clark’s West Northumberland defeated Harriston’s Chad Fotheringham, 6-2.
_Jim Bell of Uxbridge started well in the Fairfield Marriott Challenge, defeating Chris Loughry’s Ennismore rink. Uxbridge then met Williamson of Bradford. Williamson won and earned a chance against Colin McMichael’s High Park. Meanwhile, Mike Hull’s Cattaraqui team was up against the impressive Granite side led by Chris Gale. And, in their second game last weekend, Bell’s Uxbridge men went from success against Ennismore to elimination at the hands of Bradford’s Lynn Williamson.

Best Western at Stirling and Prince Edward
The ‘A’-final provincial winner, after intense women’s competition at two eastern Ontario venues, was Michele Fletcher’s rink out of Burlington Curling Club. They defeated Brooke Schneider’s rink from Detroit. The ‘C’-side winner was Barrie’s Jennifer Allan.
_Earlier, Barbara Westgarth of Renfrew met York’s Jodi Merrifield team while the Brooke Schneider rink from Detroit played Burlington’s Michelle Fletcher in the semifinals to determine who would be in the final. Unionville’s Christine Pierce had lost earlier to York’s Merrifield.

OCA Bantam Girls of Peterborough Win Region Two
The Erin Butler Bantam rink from Peterborough won the ‘A’-side, OCA Zone Two, at Tam Heather. Earlier, they had defeated Brenna Rozon’s Oakville girls. The Rozon side moved on to face Bayview’s highly touted Kelly Hawa rink. Port Perry’s Leah Will is Hawa’s second. Tam Heather’s Cassie Paccanaro, fresh from a zones win at Uxbridge, found herself against Audrey Wellbank of Woodville. The Tam team took Woodeville’s Wellbank out of contention and then met Jestyn Murphy of Mississauga. Kaitlin Jewer’s Annandale rink and Hawa were bumped to ‘B’-side play as were Woodeville and Kendra Pierce’s Richmond Hill. Hawa was knocked out of ‘B’-side play by Annandale.

Bantam Boys in Regional Battle at Tam Heather
Annandale’s Andre Lima rink won OCA Region Two. They had faced an Oakville rink led by Kevin Mooney earlier, the winner of that game fated to play the winner of the game between Tam Heather’s Conor Joudry and Weston’s Graham Singer team. Lima’s side won all the way.

Uxbridge Ladies go Hawaiian
The Uxbridge Curling Club Ladies’ Coconut ’Spiel, one of the largest ladies’bonspiels at UCC, was held recently and the theme was a Hawaiian getaway. ‘Aloha’ banners, grass skirts, tabletop coconut trees and Hawaiian shirts and leis were the order of the day. The menu - a tropical salad with coconut shrimp, Hawaiian pork loin with curried risotto, with frozen strawberry daiquiri pies, drunken sailor banana bread and coconut fudge - also paid tribute to the Aloha State.
_There were entries from Oshawa, York, Leaside, Dixie and Thornhill. A couple of games went into extra ends. The winner of the first draw was Uxbridge’s Brenda Harper, Lynda Macham, Deb McGregor, and Brenda Elford. The second draw winner was Leaside’s May Howard, Cheryl Bannier, Sarah Anne Smurlich and Sara Collins. The Leaside team was the overall points winner.

Two Titans Tangle as Super League Action Resumes
Teams tied at seven wins and three losses each met as the Super League’s second schedule began. Gus Brown Pontiac (Don Beaton) faced Bill Kennedy’s Renovations. Beaton put up two points to start. Kennedy settled for a single, then blanked the third before Beaton hit hard for three points in the fourth. After five, it was Gus Brown leading, 6-1. They exchanged deuces after that but Beaton won it 8-3 in seven ends.
_Brian Van Camp’s Hub International topped the league (8 and 2) after schedule one. In their first second schedule outing, they met Rob Steele’s Last Rock Curling. It was tight until the fifth end; HUB sat five but Steele played a quiet hit to score one. HUB took one in the sixth with a great draw by Van Camp against two Last Rock counters. Hub led 3-2 in the seventh and stole a single to lead 4-2 coming home. Not done, Last Rock scored two to tie it. In the extra end, HUB stopped all last Rock attempts to steal and won it, 5-4. In other ‘A’-division play, J.Walker Carpentry (Kelly Evans) mounted a comeback that fell short as Sue McKnight’s KIA Lindsay went on to win. In ‘B’-side action, Allen’s Siding (Kevin Robert) started strong against Moe Saunders’ True North Eavestroughing only to fall 10-3 in six ends. A close contest between Pineridge Impress and Lake Scugog Lumber was tied 2-2 after four, but Ralph Fairman finessed steals of singles in the fifth, sixth and seventh ends to run Carol Jackson’s Scugog Lumber out of rocks in a 5-2 win.

Clubs Busy, Busy, Busy at Height of Season
At Port Perry this Saturday it’s the Marlin Ladies ’spiel, followed a week later by the Little Rocks Bonspiel, a fun day for young novices who are the future of the game. At Uxbridge, the Men’s Bonspiel (formerly Acton) is Saturday. The Mixed Uxspiel is Feb. 4.